Austria’s record exports will continue in 2016

After a marked increase in product exports in 2015, ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA is expecting this upward trend to hold in 2016 and 2017. The Austrian trade deficit sank a bit – due in large part to more favorable oil and gas imports. The USA is now Austria’s second most important export market.

More and more Austrian companies are entering the global market. Since 2000 the number has grown from 12,500 to more than 52,000. It is a goal of ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA to reach 100,000 companies by 2025. And they are working hard toward that goal: ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA has either a trade commission or a marketing office in more than 110 economic centers throughout the world. In these offices, as in Austria, companies receive advice on exporting and importing, hands-on support when entering a new market, local network contacts, and much more.

Exports of goods reach 131.55 billion Euros

The success of the domestic export economy is also reflected in sales figures: when Austria joined the EU, domestic exports were roughly 35 billion Euros, while in the year 2000 the numbers were double that. The large EU expansion and a worldwide economic crisis resulted in an all-time high for Austrian exports of goods with 131.55 billion Euros in 2015. The increase was 2.7 percent over the previous year. ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA is forecasting even stronger growth for Austrian exports of goods in 2016 and 2017. This year an increase of at least 2.6 percent up to 135 billion Euros (or more) is expected, 2017 could see an increase of 3.7 percent to at least 140 billion Euros. Because imports will not increase so much during the same time span, Austria’s trade deficit will show a marked decrease – some 0.3 billion Euros per year, according to estimates by ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA.

USA replaces Italy at the number 2 position

Not all export markets and regions have shown positive results from an Austrian standpoint. The clear frontrunner in export growth is the USA market. Austrian exports to the USA exceeded the 9 billion Euro mark for the first time with an increase of 16.7 percent. The USA has therefore relegated Italy, which has traditionally been Austria’s second most important market and has stagnated recently, to the number three position. Under the top 20 markets, above average growth has also been seen with Turkey, the Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland, and Slovenia. Exports of goods to Russia have experienced a harsh decline (minus 38.1 percent). Since 2014 trade with the country has been strongly influenced by mutual sanctions between the EU and Russia. Appreciable declines were also noted regarding exports to France and China.